Tell the Senate to Support Safe Neighborhood Streets

Over the past few months, many of you have showed your support for HB 1045 – a bill that would give cities and towns the authority to set speed limits to 20 MPH on non-arterial streets, allowing your kids safer spaces to be active, and to bike and walk to places like school. After unanimous support from the Senate Transportation Committee and strong bi-partisan support in the House, this bill could to go to the Senate floor for a vote as early as today.

As of today, April 16th, HB 1045 (Neighborhood Safe Speeds) has not been placed on the Senate’s Order of Consideration for a floor vote. With a little over 24 hours before the policy bill cutoff (Wednesday at 5 pm), it’s more important than ever that senators in Olympia hear our support for this bill and that it deserves a vote in the Senate.

We need your continued support! Contact your legislator TODAY. Enter your mailing address on the district finder form (choose “Legislative,” not “Congressional”) and follow the instructions on the site to reach a contact form. Choose your state senator and ask for a YES vote on the floor for HB 1045.

Use our talking points on obesity prevention and safe streets and the bill fact sheet in contacting your state senator and spreading the word on HB 1045 (see below). Let’s make our streets safer for our kids to walk, bike and play!

We asked for your support on HB 1045 (Ryu) – a bill that would give cities and towns the authority to set speed limits to 20 MPH on non-arterial streets, allowing your kids safer spaces to be active, and to bike and walk to places like school. It worked! The House recently passed this bill with strong bi-partisan support, 86-10.

You can help! Contact your legislator TODAY. Enter your mailing address on the district finder form (choose “Legislative,” not “Congressional”) and follow the instructions on the site to reach a contact form. Choose your state senator and ask for a YES vote on the floor for SB 5066.

Use our talking points on obesity prevention and safe streets (below) and the bill fact sheet in contacting your state senator and spreading the word on SB 5066.

This is a follow up to our previous communication regarding HB 1045 (RYU).

SB 5066 (Billig) (Neighborhood Safe Speeds) is now scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday, January 29 at 3:30 pm. This bill gives cities and towns the authority to set speed limits to 20 miles per hour on non-arterial streets. For more details, see this fact sheet.

You can help!
1. Communicate with all members of the Senate Transportation Committee ASAP – email, phone or letter.
2. Use your own advocacy network to alert your constituencies about SB 5066.
3. Have your own organization officially endorse the bill. Please contact Blake Trask directly with this option.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: HB 1045 IS PART OF A BIGGER SOLUTION TO OBESITY PREVENTION

We are still in a “red alert” situation with regard to obesity statistics

Over 26% of Washington’s state residents are obese, double the rate from just 20 years ago

25% of young people eat an adequate amount of fruits & vegetables while a different 25% of our 10th grade students are overweight or obese

Treating chronic disease is expensive – and also preventable

We need all the support we can get from all sectors of our society to make the healthy choice easier in our society, including our transportation sector

Providing cities and towns with the tools to create safer and walk-able streets can be an important part of our overall strategy to get our citizens moving more on a routine basis.

We encourage you to use the above points, fact sheet and/or our sample letter in contacting the Senate Transportation Committee and spreading the word on SB 5066. Let’s make our streets safer for our kids to walk, bike and play!